** ADVANCE FOR MONDAY, APRIL 28 **Yoanis Sanchez, who writes the "Generation Y" blog, walks inside her home in Havana, Friday, April 11, 2008. In Cuba, only foreigners and some government employees, researchers and academics are allowed Internet accounts, which are administered by the state.(AP Photo/Javier Galeano) less

** ADVANCE FOR MONDAY, APRIL 28 **Yoanis Sanchez, who writes the "Generation Y" blog, walks inside her home in Havana, Friday, April 11, 2008. In Cuba, only foreigners and some government employees, researchers ... more

Photo: Javier Galeano

Image 2 of 3

** ADVANCE FOR MONDAY, APRIL 28 **Cubans line up in front of a post office that offers Internet service in Havana, Friday, April 11, 2008. In Cuba, only foreigners and some government employees, researchers and academics are allowed Internet accounts, which are administered by the state. (AP Photo/Javier Galeano) less

** ADVANCE FOR MONDAY, APRIL 28 **Cubans line up in front of a post office that offers Internet service in Havana, Friday, April 11, 2008. In Cuba, only foreigners and some government employees, researchers and ... more

Photo: Javier Galeano

Image 3 of 3

Resourceful bloggers provide unfiltered perspective on Cuba

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

Only a month has passed since ordinary Cubans won the right to own computers, and the government still keeps a rigid grip on Internet access.

But that hasn't stopped thousands from finding their way into cyberspace. And a daring few post candid blogs about life in the communist-run country that have garnered international audiences.

Yoani Sanchez writes the "Generation Y" blog and gets more than a million hits a month, mostly from abroad - though she has begun to strike a chord in Cuba. On her site and others, anonymous Cubans offer stinging criticisms of their government.

South Korea Hires Robot Volunteers to Help With PyeongChang 2018 Winter OlympicsRuptly TV

Netflix Wants You To Relive the Shows You've Binged-watchedBuzz 60

Flying Drone Clown Haunts NeighborhoodPopularMechanics

Stocks Plunge, Recover as Wild Ride ContinuesAssociated Press

Two Home Improvement Retailers Plan To Hire Over 130,000 US WorkersFortune

But it isn't simple. To post her blog, Sanchez dresses like a tourist and slips into Havana hotels with Web access for foreigners. It costs about $6 an hour and she can't afford to stay long, given the price and the possibility someone might catch her connecting without permission.

It's a testament to the ingenuity and black-market prowess Cubans have developed living on salaries averaging $20 a month, with constant restrictions and shortages.

The connections Cuban bloggers are making with the outside world via the Internet are irreversible, said Sanchez, who this month won the Ortega and Gasset Prize for digital journalism, a top Spanish media award.

But she added that "there are some ethical limits. I would never call for violence, for instance."

Since taking over from his ailing brother Fidel in February, Raul Castro has lifted bans on Cubans buying consumer electronics, having cell phones and staying in luxury tourist hotels.

While the changes have bolstered the new president's popularity, most simply legalized what was common practice. In a typically frank recent posting, Sanchez noted that many Cubans already had PCs, cell phones and DVD players bought on the black market.

"Legally recognizing what were already facts prospering in the shadows is not the same as allowing or approving something," she wrote. Cuba's leaders are responding to the inevitable, "but they won't soothe our hunger for change."

Authorities have made no sustained effort to stop Sanchez's year-old blog, though pro-government sites accuse her of taking money from opposition groups.

Only foreigners and some government employees and academics are allowed Internet accounts, and these are administered by the state.

Ordinary Cubans can join an island-wide network that allows them to send and receive international e-mail. Lines are long at youth clubs, post offices and the few Internet cafes that provide access, but the rest of the Web is blocked - a control far stricter than even China's or Saudi Arabia's.

Still, thousands of Cubans pay about $40 a month for black market dial-up Internet accounts bought through third parties overseas or stolen from foreign providers. Or they use passwords from authorized Cuban government accounts that hackers swipe or buy from corrupt officials.

Sanchez said so many Cubans read her blog that fans stop her on the street.

Generation Y takes its title from a Cuban passion for names beginning in Y. It offers witty and biting accounts of Cubans' everyday struggles against government restrictions at every turn.

Some of the bloggers hew to the belief that openness is the best answer to official surveillance.

"By signing your name, giving your opinions out loud and not hiding anything, we disarm their efforts to watch us," Sanchez wrote on her blog.